IT sector Current Affairs - 2019

Indian IT industry’s apex body NASSCOM (National Association of Software & Services Companies) has launched ‘Women Wizards Rule Tech’ programme to increase number of women in senior levels in Information Technology (IT) industry. The programme was announced in March 2018 at Nasscom Diversity and Inclusion Summit in Chennai as joint initiative by Nasscom Sector Skills Council and Data Security Council of India.

Key Facts

The programme is designed to support women who are moving up in the career ladder and also pave the way for potential leaders of the future. It will aid women techies in core technologies like IT-Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES), product and research and development (R&D), Business Process Management (BPM) sectors by equipping them with the skills required for an edge in their career

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)

NASSCOM is global non-profit trade association (organisation) of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. It facilitates business and trade in software and services and encourages the advancement of research in software technology. It is registered under the Indian Societies Act, 1860. Its headquarters are in New Delhi.

It has regional offices in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram. The global IT trade body has over 2000 members, of which over 250 are companies from the China, EU, Japan, US and UK. NASSCOM’s member companies are in the business of software development, software services, software products, IT-enabled/BPO services and e-commerce.

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) is planning to expand its India BPO Promotion Scheme to 1 lakh seats from current 48,000 seats. It will also set up 5th and India’s largest National data centre (NDC) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh with capacity of 5 lakh virtual servers. NDCs host government websites, services and apps, are currently operational at four locations Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bhubaneswar. These initiatives will help to create new job opportunities and also ensure that people in smaller towns find employment closer home.

India BPO Promotion Scheme (IBPS)

The scheme was approved under Digital India Programme to incentivize BPO/IT- ITES operations sector in the country. It was launched in 2014. The scheme aims to incentivize establishment of BPO firms and their extension to Tier II and Tier III cities (as per census 2011) to provide employment, distributed across various states in proportion to population of state with financial support in form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF).

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society of MeitY is nodal implementing agency of the scheme. It will be implemented to incentivize setting up of BPO/ITES operations across the country (excluding certain cities and north eastern states which are covered separately under North-East BPO Promotion Scheme).

Objectives of IBPS

Create employment opportunities for the youth, by promoting IT/ITES industry particularly by setting up BPO/ITES operations.

Promotion of investment in IT/ITES sector in order to expand base of IT Industry and secure balanced regional growth.

Incentives: Under this scheme, financial support up to 50% of expenditure towards Capital Expenditure (Capex) and/or Operational Expenditure (Opex) is provided subject to upper limit of Rs. 1 Lakh/seat. Moreover, special incentives is given for employing women and persons with disability (PwDs), employment generation beyond target and wider dispersal within state. It also gives special consideration for hilly areas and rural areas and also to local entrepreneurs.